George Lois's Bright Ideas

George Lois doesn’t need advice. But the designer for whom “legendary ad man” is practically a Homeric epithet has loads to share in Damn Good Advice (for People with Talent!), a slim, fast-paced collection that comes out in March (Phaidon, $9.95). Although there are plenty of tips for the aspiring “master communicator” (No. 6: “Follow your bliss”; No. 108: “Then why the fuck didn’t you make it that way in the first place!”), the book is best when Lois dispenses with the advice and simply speaks his brilliant, profane mind. Take this bit from No. 92 (“Why I resent being called the ‘Original Mad Man’”): “The more I think about Mad Men, the more I take the show as a personal insult. So, fuck you Mad Men—you phony, ‘Gray Flannel Suit,’ male-chauvinist, no-talent, WASP, white-shirted, racist, anti-semitic, Republican SOBs! Besides, when I was in my 30s I was better looking than Don Draper.” Now those are words to live by.